Malicious PXA Stealer Archive Extraction via Renamed WinRAR images.png (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion → Collection

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1036Masquerading
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
- T1560.001Archive via Utility
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects execution of a WinRAR command-line binary renamed to images.png, which PXA Stealer used to extract password-protected archives while masquerading as an image file. A process image ending in an image extension is a strong sign of masquerading. The extraction unpacks the next-stage payload to a public directory.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious PXA Stealer Archive Extraction via Renamed WinRAR images.png (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1036 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

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